ON THAT GREAT DAY

Micah can really teach us about love. He knew the secret of love, the secret that we keep hoping to find in our daily labors. Since I was about 14 years old, I prayed to be a better person. Now an elder, I think I needed to learn how to love myself and others with forgiveness.

Well, Micah, what do you have to say about this? Micah 4:6 and 7 reads, "On that great day," God says,"I will round up all the hurt and homeless, everyone I have bruised or banished. I will transform the battered into a company of the elite. I will make a strong nation out of the long lost, a showcase exhibit of God's rule in action, as I rule from Mt.Zion, from here to eternity."

Micah, what does that say about love? Or forgiveness for that matter? Please explain.

God loves all the world. John 3:16 tells us He loved all the world. It 's hard for us to understand how we, then, are to follow that pattern. God's love includes those who are criminals and how can we love them? Take another look at Micah.

Micah was quite surprised when God told him he had to marry a prostitute. He did; she thought he was a wuss, she had affairs,she was all bad. Yet, Micah took her back, forgave her and loved her unconditionally. He loved her with a blind love, because God told him to! Her response? She loved him in return and it became one of the greatest love stories of all time.

Forgiveness. Isn't that a command of Jesus? True love absolutely must carry forgiveness. And how is that working for the American Christian? for the American Way? What is it the Statue of Liberty says? "Give me your tired, your lonely, your yearning to be free." It's something like that. And what does it take to follow? Forgiveness and Hospitality. One is commanded of us, the other a gift of the Holy spirit. Both describe the American Way.

A blind love, full of forgiveness, is what we need to come to agreement on the thorny issue of immigration. We hesitate to give blind love proper recognition as we see the inconvenience and hardship of the kind of love that demands forgiveness. And we count the cost!! Oh, don't forget the cost! Well, MY God is happiest when I don't pinch the pennies when I am serving Him. And this forgiveness, love, and acceptance might just be God's plan. Do I want to thwart it? NO, not me.

I am far too aware of Jesus' cost to forgive me and love me. He didn't count the cost for me. How about you? I sincerely hope and pray that this is God's plan to take our nation and mix it up once again with others to make a REAL melting pot. Who could resist? Problems? Yes. Solutions? Always, with the help of God.

I'd vote for this new nation. The United States of America of ours and ours. It will be a strong nation after a little chaos, but one that is under God's rule. One that lasts from now to Eternity. Can you see yourself taking this risk? Micah did. Forgiveness--don't forget--is the key. Blind love the gift of God for us and the gift we have to find in us to give to others.

Thanks for listening. jej